Commercial aircraft typically maintain in-flight VHF radio communications with ground controllers and airline operations through an array of ground stations. As the aircraft travels along its route, it will exit the radio frequency (RF) signal area of one ground station and enter the RF signal area of the next. Because of the altitude and speed at which commercial aircraft travel, and because propagation characteristics of radio signals, as the aircraft exits the radio frequency (RF) signal area of a ground station, the signal strength of transmissions from the ground station will drop quickly such that communication connections are lost quickly, without any warning to the flight crew. As a result, commercial aircraft today can be without a connection to any ground station for up to 4 to 5 minutes before a connection is established with the next ground station, even if they are within RF range of the next ground station. During this interval, the flight crew is unaware that communications are lost and may miss important information.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for detecting a loss of communications between an aircraft and a ground station.